Request Denial Letter – Format, Meaning, Need, , Examples, and More

If you are an HR or the Manager of an organization, your managerial responsibilities require you to make certain decisions at times. This may also result in rejecting your employees’ requests sometimes. Saying a “No” straightforward may sound quite rude. Hence, the best way to deliver rejections is via request denial letters.

Understanding the details of the denial letters and the circumstances that lead to one can help you manage your day-to-day managerial responsibilities effectively. In this blog, we will see what a denial letter is when you are required to write one, and also the steps to write an effective letter of request denial. You can also see the request denial letter format and examples here.

What is a Request Denial Letter?

A denial letter is a letter that is written to reject an employee’s request. If you want to deny a salary raise, a promotion, a hire request, a leave request, or a transfer; you can do this by issuing a denial letter. Denying a request shows a formal request via a rejection letter that states the clear reason for denial.

Sending this letter formally closes the request. It maintains a formal and positive tone and remains simple, brief, and friendly in nature. Usually, this letter is brief but the length may vary according to the content of the letter.

When Do I Need to Write a Request Denial Letter?

There may be many reasons when you may require to write a denial letter to your employee’s request. For instance, the company may lack the resources requested by the employee. Below are some more reasons that may require you to write a denial letter:

Budget Already Allocated

After a time of employment, your employees may ask you for a pay raise. Denying a pay raise may be a challenging task for you, but if you have already allocated the funds for the year before the employee asks for a raise, it becomes too late for you to approve it.

No Vacant Positions for a Promotion

After working for a certain time period in your company, some of your employees may ask you for a promotion. Even if the requesting individual may be sufficient enough to handle all the responsibilities that come along with the promotion, over-resourcing one department while under-resourcing the other won’t benefit your company.

Impossible Transfer

If an employee requests to be transferred to another department or branch, it will need your and the other manager’s approval. Even if you are ready to transfer the employee, you will have to write a denial if the other manager doesn’t approve the request.

Inconvenient Leave of Absence

An employee may ask you for a leave of absence at an inconvenient time, such as when the department is overburdened with the work. If they are absent for an extended period, it may bring an extensive workload to other team members which may eventually affect the productivity of their work. In this case, you need to deny their leave via a denial letter.

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How Do I Write a Denial Letter?

Restate the Request

To avoid any confusion or misunderstanding, mention the request in the letter that the employee has made. It could be possible that your employee sent the request some weeks or months ago, therefore, restating the request will remind you and the employee of the request when you write a denial letter.

Try to Be Positive in the Letter of Request

Yes, although you are denying the request of the employee, you should be encouraging about the employee and his/her endeavors.

Specific Reason for the Denial

Don’t just give excuses. Mention the specific and proper reason why you are denying the request of the employee. Employees may find greater satisfaction with you and the letter if you give a proper reason for the denial. For example, if the employee asks for a branch transfer and the other manager denies the request, you can write that the situation is not in your control. This will help understand your situation and the reason as well.

Offer an Alternative that Employee may Find Useful

If a manager is writing a request letter to you, he obviously came to you with hope for help. It is likely that you might be aware of the alternative solution that could help him/her with the issue. Offering alternatives or suggestions may also make the employee feel valued and enhance employee engagement.

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Remain Professional Yet Polite

Write a professional and considerate letter of denial to maintain a good employee relationship. Moreover, keep it brief yet as detailed as possible so that it can help the employee understand your situation of denying the request. At last, say thank you for the request as it would show that the employee came to you with the request as he/she had enough confidence in you. Maintain a friendly tone throughout the letter.

Get the well-written Request Denial Letters and other HR documents ready to use on the best HRMS Software India, offering you an HR toolkit with not only HR letters, but also HR Policies, Job Descriptions, and much more. However, below you can see a well-structured format for writing a letter of denying the employee’s request.

Request Denial Letter Format

Request Denial Letter Example

Conclusion

A letter of denial is sent to an employee for rejecting his/her request that they have previously made. If you are in a situation where you require an employee’s request, write a polite and professional Request denial letter.

If you want customized and easy to use denial letters for different sorts of requests, UBS HRMS Software is the place for you.  We have various HR letter formats that fulfill your requirements. However, in case you don’t find yours, you can reach out to us. We will customize the letter as per your needs and send it to you via email.